Tuesday, December 27, 2016

The OSR Christmas season is still upon us. I'll close it out at some point with a box of goodies from the Tenkar Games Collection, but in the meantime we have more gift to give.

+Jarrod Shaw , he ofMythoard, the monthly box of gaming goodies that had its own resurrection of sorts, has offered up 2 past Mythoard collections to the readers of this fine Tavern.

Here's the deal. These are physical copies, so US only. Comments must be made by 8 AM Eastern Time, Friday December 30th, 2016. As for the comments, we are going to do things just a tad differently. You need to include the following in your comment:

- an old school release (old or new) that you don't own and wish you did AND why

Castle Zygag by Gygax Games... because it was some of the last stuff Gygax made, and I'd love to see what a talented guy like Talanian made of "castle Greyhawk" ...Oh, and that 22k 0ed that was sold a few weeks back :-D

I'm gonna have to agree with Charlie up above. Maze of the Blue Medusa is something I'd love to have a physical copy of, not only because it's a work of art (the PDF is already gorgeous), but because I'll be running it at Gary Con!

Metamorphosis Aplaha would be a good one for me. I have some of the later Gamma World Stuff, and a first cover Star Frontiers box, but this is one of the earliest SF rpgs out there. While I did read some Oz and Prydain books when I was younger, my big interest was in SF up until I was in in my twenties, when I started reading more fantasy.

I would like to own a physical copy of the D&D Rules Cyclopedia. I didn't get the opportunity to play non-Advanced D&D "back in the day," and have found that physical copies of the Rules Cyclopedia are prohibitively expensive. While there are OSR retroclones, which I very much appreciate, it's hard to beat the experience of having the original book to thumb through.

"Bird of a Feather" by Lesser Gnome, specifically the printing from Mythoard. Why? The cover is awesome and LG does great stuff. Guess that's why it's so expensive to pick up that specific release on eBay. :(

D&D Basic Set, 1983 red box variety. At the time it was amazing to me, sparking my love of RPG games. Now I look back on it with both nostalgia and admiration for how much fun was packed into a relatively simple ruleset. Also one of the best RPG cover designs!

Tomb of Horrors. I was not alive at the point of its creation, but I have heard tantalizing rumors. There are times when I, as DM, feel the great desire to be nothing but a sadist towards my players. Just once.

I have never owned my own copy of "Tomb of Horrors" this high level adventure penned by the master himself was for high level characters which had a morbid level of character loss. I want to get that bumper sticker "I survived the Tomb of Horrors"

Maze of the Blue Medusa is probably the number one product I don't own that I really need to. It's a megadungeon where nearly every monster is a character of its own with fantastic art. Why don't I own this?

Tough, tough, question. I was thinking Temple of EE to go with Homlet, but Dieties & Demigods might add some fun to my current campaign. I'll stop there before I talk myself into an eBay shopping spree. Happy holidays!

I would have to say Crypts and Things. I missed the KS and from what I have seen and heard, it something I would really like to add to my collection. I like the feel of the game and should fit right into my style.

Hmmm . . going to go with a newer-ish old school production: the hunt and discovery of the older bits and bobs and the slow stitching together of histories for the original articles has it's own sort of pleasant compulsion to it. The oddity on my wishlish is the Grindhouse Edition of Lamentations of the Flame Princess. The why is both practical and aesthetic - I have the current iteration of the game, the Rules & Magic core book but I would love to have a proper GM guide for the game: the modules and resources put out by LotFP are good in that regard but it's not quite the same. Aesthetically the box set was gorgeous and would also hold the other bits of the line I've collected since in one potent little red-haired package.

It would also stop me from kicking myself for passing up the chance to by it when I saw it in a physical storefront years ago. I was unemployed at the time and on a bit of a budget but I cruised that section of the local bookstore for weeks upon weeks until it finally got bought by someone else and I could stop drooling over something I couldn't have.

I had to think on this a bit. I think that I have to say the "board game" run of box sets for the "basic" line, from the early 90's. They came with a bunch of cardboard standies, and play maps. They came out during a period where I couldn't purchase them, and disappeared by the time I could. I wonder what happened to them all, as there were stacks of them in the stores, when they were available.

I wish I had managed to get hold of a copy of the D&D Immortals boxed set. I have the rest of the BECMI (minus the boxes after this amount of time), but I never managed to locate a decently priced copy.

Oh, and while I'm at it, I wish for the boxes for each set to keep them in.

There are several OSR releases that I covet, but the one adventure that stands out for me is N1 Against the Cult of the Reptile God. I never owned it, but I did play in a 5e version at GameholeCon in 2015. It was magnificent.

The Throne of Bloodstone- I never played the Bloodstone series, but as a kid, loved the cover art, and featured the demon in the backstory of nearly all my pc's. Plus, my parents always felt the module looked "too evil" so it just made me love it more!!!

First and foremost the things i miss the most are my Rules Cyclopedia for D&D and my full run of B series modules. They were both lost to a tornado in 2002 and while I should have replaced them long ago, by the time I got around to it budget wise on my VA pension they were already astronomical in price. One day though!

THE PRISMATIC MAZE of Orum Heb. I couldn't decide whether to back at that level or not, and decided not. Now I wish I did. I hope I have the option to change my backer level when the backer kit finally comes out!

A copy of the Arduin box set. I can't find mine and I have a feeling I gave it away 30 years ago along with a well used blue box D&D. Bits of it have seeded my games and, well, I miss it. Call me nostalgic.

The original Battle System, 1st or 2nd edition. Many of the original basic D&D modules came with army lists (like the GAZ series) as did modules like Blood Stone Pass. I would love to have played a large scale war as part of these modules back in the day.

TS001 - Operation: Sprechenhaltestelle, the introductory module in the Top Secret box captured some of the feeling of now long-gone Cold War intrigue. That or Keep...; The first sight of the blue and white mapping convention, the first wilderness map, the first real exposure to a fantasy land outside of Middle Earth. Matched with the almost lurid colors of the cover, it's literally like opening up a whole new world.

Frog God Games' Lost Lands: Sword of Air(S&W version) because whereas I have a lot of adventures from these guys, I have yet to purchase a campaign setting. The Lost Lands seems to be to most interesting to me and if the quality of their adventures shows up in the setting, it'll be worth the price.

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Why "Swords & Wizardry?"

Believe me when I say I have them all in dead tree format. I have OSRIC in full size, trade paperback and the Player's Guide. I have LL and the AEC (and somewhere OEC, but I can't find it at the moment). Obviously I have Basic Fantasy RPG. Actually, I have the whole available line in print. Way too much Castles & Crusades. We all know my love for the DCC RPG. I even have Dark Dungeons in print, the Delving Deeper boxed set, Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea (thank you Kickstarter) (edit) BOTH editions of LotFP's Weird Fantasy and will soon have some dead tree copies of the Greyhawk Grognards Adventures Dark & Deep shipping shortly in my grubby hands awaiting a review..

I am so deep in the OSR when I come up for breath it's for the OSR's cousin, Tunnels & Trolls (and still waiting on dT&T to ship).

So, out of all that, why Swords & Wizardry? Why, when I have been running a AD&D 1e / OSRIC campaign in Rappan Athuk am I using Swords & Wizardry and it's variant, Crypts & Things, for the second campaign? (Actually, now running a S&W Complete campaign, soon to be with multiple groups)

Because the shit works.

It's easy for lapsed gamers to pick up and feel like they haven't lost a step. I can house rule it and it doesn't break. It plays so close to the AD&D of my youth and college years (S&W Complete especially) that it continually surprises me. Just much less rules hopping than I remember. (my God but I can run it nearly without the book)

I grab and pick and steal from just about all OSR and Original resources. They seem to fit into S&W with little fuss. It may be the same with LL and the rest, but for me the ease of use fit's my expectations with S&W.

Even the single saving throw. That took me longer to adjust to, but even that seems like a natural to me now. Don't ask me why, it just does. Maybe it's the simplicity of it. At 45 48, simplicity and flexibility while remaining true to the feel of the original is an OSR hat trick for me ;)

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